Jeaniene Frost's Blog, page 9

Holiday Favs Giveaway Prize 1 WINNERS!

Wow, SO MANY of you entered the first contest! Over 850 at last count, so I'm so sorry that I'm about to disappoint most of you. BUT, these five winners should be happy, so without further ado, let's get to them! Note: Winners were chosen randomly because of course you can't expect me to choose between you. That would be too hard!  

The three winners of the first part of Prize 1, which was choosing any book from my backlist in either ebook or print (winner's choice which), are...

Ali Lastella, who said "Polar express!!!! And the Muppets carol"

Vanessa Smith, who said "A Christmas story is my favorite movie at Christmas time."

Darlene, who said "Home Alone 1 & 2; Poor Kevin – as being the “opps” child in my family, I can so relate."

The one winner of the second part of Prize 1, which was any book from my backlist in either ebook or print (winner's choice which) PLUS a box of Godiva chocolate, is....

Laura, who said "My favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard because, well, it’s Die Hard."

And the one winner of the grand prize section of Prize one, which was any book from my backlist in ebook or print (winner's choice which) PLUS a box of Godiva chocolate, AND a $25 Amazon egift card, is....

Meghan Tuttle, who said "Elf! We watch it every year, multiple times, and I can probably recite every line!!"

Congratulations to the winners! I will be emailing you shortly to get your information so I can send out your prizes. For everyone else, don't worry, I'm not done giving things away! Next week, I'll announce Prize 2 of my Holiday Favs Giveaways, which will contain even more goodies than what you see above. So, be sure to check my website blog early next week for details on your new chance to win.

Until then, congrats again to the winners, and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :)

Holiday Favs Giveaway Prize 1! (books, chocolate, and money!)

As promised, I'm now starting the first of my Holiday Favs Giveaways! Yes, I know I called it the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways last week, but then I caught the flu, so everything's now been shortened to match my new state of sickness. Hey, at first I was going to rename it Frosts 12-Way Favs, and then I read that title out loud. Whoops ;). 

Anyway, these giveaways are brought to you by SHADES OF WICKED, my latest release. So, before we get to them, let's thank our sponsors, Ian and Veritas, shall we? Who are they? new visitors might be wondering? Let me introduce you!

The Rule Breaker

Master vampire Ian is unrepentant, shameless…and every shade of wicked. He’s made one too many enemies in his two centuries of existence, including Dagon, a demon who now lays claim to his soul. Ian’s only chance to escape Dagon is to join forces with a Law Guardian, but he’s never been able to abide by the rules for long.

The Law Maker

Veritas’ normal role is police, judge and jury to reprobates like Ian. But she has her own ax to grind with Dagon, so if she can use Ian as bait…well, all’s fair in law and war. As they scour supernatural hotspots to perfect their trap, Veritas soon realizes Ian’s devil-may-care, roguish image hides something much more powerful. And Ian discovers that Veritas has shocking secrets of her own. As they’re drawn to each other with a passion as intense as their peril, either love or justice will prevail. But each will have devastating consequences… Order: Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Apple Books, BooksAMillion, Kobo or Malaprops.

Okay, shameless promo plug out of the way, let's get right to PRIZE 1 of the Holiday Favs giveaways! First up are books, books, books! THREE WINNERS will get to choose from ONE of the books below, which contains ALL the novels in my Night Huntress, Night Huntress World, Night Prince and new Night Rebel series, with an added extended novella from The Bite Before Christmas anthology because it's an important Cat and Bones story that I really should have just made into a complete book, but didn't. I even arranged the books in my Author Recommended Reading Order because not even the flu can limit my ocd, ha! Anyway, here are the pretties. The three winners can choose to have them in either paperback or ebook. This part of the contest is open to US and international readers, although due to ebook restrictions, any international winners are limited to receiving their prize in paperback only.



 

But I don't only want books! some of you might be saying. I hear you! How about some chocolate, too? ONE LUCKY WINNER will also get a box of Godiva chocolate PLUS any book from my collection featured above, in either paperback or ebook, winner's choice. This part of the contest is limited to US readers only.



But wait, there's more! What goes better with books than chocolate, you wonder? Books, chocolate, AND MONEY! :) ONE LUCKY WINNER will get any book from my collection above, PLUS a box of Godiva chocolate, PLUS a $25 Amazon egift card! This part of the contest is open to US readers only.



THE RULES:

If you want your chance to be one of the five total winners, then tell me your favorite holiday-themed movie. For example, mine would be a tie between It's A Wonderful Life and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I like the uplifting, timeless truths of It's A Wonderful Life, but let's face it, my actual holidays more closely resemble the mayhem of Christmas Vacation ;). This category is open to all holidays, of course. Or, if you don't have an official holiday-themed favorite movie, holiday-adjacent is fine, too. If I were picking for that category, mine would be The Family Man, where the holidays are barely mentioned because it's mostly a fish-out-of-water story combined with a meant-to-be love story, all wrapped up with a tinge of supernatural intervention. Hey, you can rock the holiday horror category, too. Gremlins was an all-time favorite of mine, and Santa's Slay still makes me laugh out loud. 

I mentioned a bunch of examples, but you only have to tell me one of your favorites to be eligible to enter.  Reply in the comments on my website blog ONLY so I have them all together in one place. Winners will be randomly selected. Not sure if you're at my website blog? Here is the link: http://jeanienefrost.com/2018/12/holi...

Contest opens NOW and ends Friday, December 7th at 9am Eastern time. Please only enter once per person. Thanks and good luck!

Tree colors and giveaway head's up

First, if you live in the US, hope you had a great Thanksgiving last week! Hubby and I had a lovely time, and got back from visiting our family on Saturday night. On Sunday and again later last night, we finished the last of our Christmas decorations. Here is our tree as proof. Yes, I know the angel is askew on top. After seeing hubby almost crash into the tree while precariously perching on the stepladder to place the angel on top, I decided an askew angel would be better than a smashed tree and an injured hubby.  Also, if you're like me and you can't decide if you like multi-colored lights or white lights - and that decision changes according to your mood - then you will really appreciate the lights below. They slowly change from white to multi-colored and back again: 

Lights 1

Lights 2.

A quick disclaimer about the presents under the tree: No, I am not so efficient that I'm already caught up on my Christmas shopping (hardly!) Those boxes are as empty as the resolve behind most New Year's resolutions. The reason why is that most of my family is no longer local, so I don't do in-person gift exchanges much anymore. But, I still love the look of presents under the tree. Must be in the inner child in me. So, I took a bunch of old boxes and wrapped them. Hey, at least I can get some extended use out of my wrapping paper this way :)

Now, if after reading two blogs straight where I only talk about decorations, you're thinking "For the love of glitter, can you PLEASE talk about books again?!" well, first, I don't blame you. Second, book talk commencing right now! A question I got asked a lot from readers after SHADES OF WICKED was "Wait, when was it revealed that Bones and Ian were cousins?!" In this Cat & Bones Xmas novella! It originally came out in 2013, but hey, if you haven't read it yet, then it's new to you ;).



Originally appeared in the print anthology The Bite Before Christmas.

'Tis the season to join Cat and Bones for some holiday cheer in this Night Huntress novella by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost.

They were looking forward to a normal holiday—at least as "normal" as it gets for vampires Cat and Bones and their otherworldly friends and family. But their yuletide plans are shattered when a mysterious stranger shows up and reveals long-buried secrets that threaten to take a bite out of their holiday cheer … and lives.

Order ebook at: Amazon: https:// amzn.to/2KBcAm9   B&N: https:// tinyurl.com/ya9c7pk8   Apple: https:// tinyurl.com/yc332ufq  

Order Audio at:  Downpour, Audible.com , iTunes or your favorite retailer.

 

Also, head's up! Next week, not only will I be talking about books again, I'll start the first contest in my upcoming 12 Days of Christmas giveaway blitz. Prizes will include signed books, ebooks, gift cards and chocolate, so be sure to keep checking my blog this month so you don't miss out on your chance to win!

That's it from me for now. Back to writing about Ian and Veritas in Wicked Bite. No surprise, they're in trouble... 

Happy (early) Thanksgiving and how I ended up looking like a stripper

Let me start off by saying that I'm coming off a three-day migraine, so if I sound more scattered than usual, don't worry - it's just the meds. (And no, the extended migraine is nothing to be concerned about. I've been to several doctors just to have them tell me what I already knew, which is that my migraines are hereditary. All the women in my maternal family line had them. In fact, my great-grandmother once scandalized her peers by chopping off ALL her long hair as a young woman because its slight weight made her migraine feel worse.)

But I digress. Hey, I warned you about being scattered! Anyway, despite the migraine, I resolved that I'd put up Christmas decorations this past weekend because I didn't want to take time off during the work week, and despite the migraine, I also didn't want to wait until next weekend because already felt like I was behind on decorating (see my previous post for my lazy explanation behind this.) Granted, I don't have a tree yet - I don't put that up until after Thanksgiving - but there was still a LOT of other decorating to do. 

I won't bore you with all the decorating details, but one of the things was placing garland on the tops of my kitchen cabinets. Now, for reference, my kitchen is shaped kind of like a square horseshoe, and the garland is decked out with with pine cones, ornaments, fake fruit, bows, little starbursts and of course, lots of glitter. Also, since the garland had been in a bag for almost a year, it came out flattened and misshapen.  So, in addition to moving a step ladder all around the kitchen because I'm too short to place the garland above the cabinets otherwise, I then had to crawl onto the counters to "fluff" it so that the garland looked bushy and pretty again.

*grins* My subject line is starting to make more sense now, isn't it? Yes, you guessed it - by the time I was done positioning and fluffing all the garland above me, I was covered in so much glitter, strippers would've told me to tone it down. Also, inadvertently huffing glitter while crawling all over my counters probably - in hindsight - wasn't the best, err, holistic approach to treating my migraine. But whatever, doesn't the garland look nice up there? (Lie to me say it does, please!)



In any event, between the garland there, the garland in other places, and the many other decorations I put up, I'm now all done with decorating except for the tree, which will be this weekend's project. Thankfully, I don't have to factor in cooking for Thanksgiving in addition to my other tasks before that since my sister-in-law is hosting it this year. Me and my husband are just tasked with bringing desserts, and we know a local bakery that does the most amazing apple pie ever.

Whether you're staying home, going to relatives, going to friends, or going out to eat, I hope that you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving! But be sure to watch out for stray glitter clouds. That stuff apparently isn't healthy if you breathe lots of it in ;). 

Hodgepodge

Got back from AlienCon Tuesday night. Yes, the convention ended on Sunday, but it was a two-day drive to get home. Flying would've been much faster, but (1) I hate to fly and (2) we brought our dogs so flying was out of the question. No, Gypsy and Loki didn't attend AlienCon, too *snickers*. They spent their time in our hotel room being (what they would consider) neglected since we spent several hours each day away from them. My dogs' paws-down rating aside, we all had a good time. I haven't been to a convention just for fun in over a decade, so this was an especially nice treat. 

At one point during the long drive back, my husband said "You know, Thanksgiving is next week" and I replied "Nuh uh!" Well, UH huh, because yes it is! I don't know how a holiday marked on the calendar for the whole year managed to sneak up on me, but it did. I feel so unprepared. Thank God I'm not hosting it or I'd really be in trouble. Still, I'll be rushing to put up my Christmas decorations this weekend. Yes, I put them up before Thanksgiving. Why? It's a pain in the ass to do all that decorating, so I am going to get FULL value out of it by having those decorations up for at least six weeks. *grins* That might not be sentimental, but it's true.

While I was away, BFF Ilona Andrews had a new release. DIAMOND FIRE, a Hidden Legacy novella, came out the November 6th. This novella bridges the culmination of Rogan and Nevada's main storyline plus rolls out the red carpet for Catalina's turn as a heroine. It's a fun, fabulous story, but don't take my word for it. Look at all the glowing, 5-star reviews from readers who've already gotten their copy, so be sure to grab yours, too! 

Nevada Frida Baylor and Connor Ander Rogan cordially invite you to join their wedding celebration. Summoning, weather manipulation, and other magical activities strictly forbidden.

Catalina Baylor is looking forward to wearing her maid of honor dress and watching her older sister walk down the aisle.  Then the wedding planner gets escorted off the premises, the bride’s priceless tiara disappears, and Rogan's extensive family overruns his mother’s home.  Someone is cheating, someone is lying, and someone is plotting murder.

To make this wedding happen, Catalina will have to do the thing she fears most: use her magic.  But she’s a Baylor and there’s nothing she wouldn't do for her sister's happiness.  Nevada will have her fairy tale wedding, even if Catalina has to tear the mansion apart brick by brick to get it done.

Order: Amazon | BN | Kobo | Apple Books

That's it from me for now. I must get back to my keyboard, where WICKED BITE , the second Night Rebel novel, awaits. Oh, Veritas. You didn't think you'd really get away with *censored* when it came to Ian, did you? ;)

Thank you, new links, more

I'm currently away from home, about to experience the out-of-this-world fun of AlienCon Baltimore, but my editor texted me last night to say that SHADES OF WICKED hit the USA Today bestseller list at #44! Thank you, readers, for making sure that Ian and Veritas's debut made such a wonderful splash! 

If you're saying "Huh? IAN'S book? I didn't know about that!" go here for all the details. Oh, and speaking of possibly not knowing about Ian's book, I recently found out that I'd had the WRONG link up for my newsletter on my website, so if you thought you signed up, but didn't get a New Release notice from me last week, that's why. Here is the updated link to my newsletter , hosted by CoffeeTime Romance. Of course, be sure to select my name for the author you want to receive information on. 

As promised, I also have updated pre-order links for the sequel, Wicked Bite. Note, the title changed, so if your copy of Shades of Wicked shows that the next book is Wicked Promises, scratch that! It's Wicked Bite now, releasing on July 30th, 2019, and here's where you can pre-order yours: Preorder: Amazon, Apple Books, B&N, BooksAMillion, Kobo, IndieBound

Once again, thank you so much, readers! *group hug*

Shades of Wicked playlist and Wicked Bite info

Before we get to the playlist that I listened to while writing Shades of Wicked, an important note about the next Ian and Veritas novel. At the back of Shades of Wicked, it says the title of the next Night Rebel book is Wicked Promises. However, between the time that was printed and now, we changed our minds :). The UPDATED title of the second Night Rebel book featuring Ian and Veritas is WICKED BITE. It even has some pre-order pages up so you can bookmark it or pre-order: WICKED BITE on Amazon and WICKED BITE on Apple Books (I'll update my website as more retailers post links.) No cover yet for WICKED BITE, but I'll post that as soon as I get the go-ahead, too.

And now, to the playlist for Shades of Wicked! As many of you know, writing to specific music helps put me in the right frame of mind because I’m conditioning myself to write a particular story whenever I hear those particular songs. I'm not saying this works for every writer, but it works for me, so I stick with it. That being said, there’s no hidden meaning for the book in these songs. Some of these are recommendations that you, readers, have given me, so thank you again! Some songs are recent hits, some are very retro, and some are in between. Now, music tastes are as personal as reading tastes, so if you don’t like some of the bands/songs, no problem. Just please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t like them, because if a song/band is listed, then I do and no arguing on your part will change my mind :). 

The layout is artist name: songs. Artists are in alphabetical order for ease of listing, but this isn’t the order that I listened to while writing because I’m not that organized, heh.

Bastile: Pompeii, Oblivion

Bon Jovi: Living with the Ghost, Roller Coaster, We Don't Run

Breaking Benjamin: Psycho, The Dark of You, Torn in Two, Save Yourself

Broods: Evergreen, Everytime

Cage The Elephant: Come a Little Closer

Daughter: Youth

Foo Fighters: Everlong

King & Country: O God Forgive Us

Halsey: Gasoline, Bad at Love, Is There Somewhere

Hozier: Better Love

Imagine Dragons: Whatever It Takes*, Believer

INXS: Don't Change

The Killers: Read My Mind

Lana Del Ray: Video Games, Lust for Life

Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song

Little Dragon: Twice

Miley Cyrus: Younger Now, Miss You So Much

Of Monsters and Men: We Sink

One Republic: Let's Hurt Tonight**

P!nk: What About Us, Barbies, Where We Go, For Now, I Am Here

RAC: Let Go

Sia: The Greatest

The Chainsmokers & Coldplay: Something Just Like This

Goo Goo Dolls: Flood, The Pin, So Alive

The Killers: Read My Mind

Thousand Foot Crutch: So Far Gone

Tom Walker: Leave A Light On

While I listened to all these songs repeatedly (it takes me several months to write a book, so just imagine how many times I listened to them!) the song marked with * is the one I listened to on continuous repeat while writing the first sex scene. And the song marked with ** was the one I listened to on continuous repeat while writing the second sex scene. Take from that what you will ;).

SHADES OF WICKED is finally here!

As the subject line says, SHADES OF WICKED is now out! As my publisher hilariously said, "Take a bite out of Ian." *snorts* Sure, go ahead. He'd probably like that ;).

The Rule Breaker

Master vampire Ian is unrepentant, shameless…and every shade of wicked. He’s made one too many enemies in his two centuries of existence, including Dagon, a demon who now lays claim to his soul. Ian’s only chance to escape Dagon is to join forces with a Law Guardian, but he’s never been able to abide by the rules for long.

The Law Maker

Veritas’ normal role is police, judge and jury to reprobates like Ian. But she has her own ax to grind with Dagon, so if she can use Ian as bait…well, all’s fair in law and war. As they scour supernatural hotspots to perfect their trap, Veritas soon realizes Ian’s devil-may-care, roguish image hides something much more powerful. And Ian discovers that Veritas has shocking secrets of her own. As they’re drawn to each other with a passion as intense as their peril, either love or justice will prevail. But each will have devastating consequences…

Order: Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, Apple Books, BooksAMillion, Kobo or Malaprops (for a limited time, signed copes still available to order at Malaprops)

Thankfully, I'm not the only one excited about this book. Here's a sampling of what others have said: “A flawless blend of high-stakes romance and action-packed paranormal adventure…Sexy, breathtaking, not-to-be-missed paranormal romance.” KIRKUS, starred review.

“The legion of fans for Frost’s super popular, darkly twisted Night Huntress titles will be thrilled by the first book in her Night Rebel series…Wild, magically enhanced sex and bloody, bone-pulverizing battles will keep readers turning the pages.” BOOKLIST.

"SHADES OF WICKED is everything Jeaniene Frost fans hoped for and much more.” FRESH FICTION

" Shades of Wicked is a fantastic start to this new series...Bravo again, Jeaniene Frost.” THE READING CAFE

"Pulse-pounding action with some of the best characters you’ll have the pleasure to read about...Ian and Veritas had me hooked from page one and addicted for more.  The next installment can’t come soon enough.” UNDER THE COVERS BOOK BLOG

"With Ian's devil-may-care attitude, and Veritas's single-minded focus on her mission, the pairing off of these two is as delightful as it was unexpected." ALL THINGS URBAN FANTASY

Of course, my favorite recommendation might have to be from Dromichaetes of Dacia, Master of the Dark Coven and unofficial spokesvampire of the Ministry of Undead Persons*, who rather begrudgingly has this to say: "The Ministry acknowledges that the Author’s Work in Question, SHADES OF WICKED, has literary merit and provides exciting entertainment value, while still torturing its principals hereinafter known as Hero and Heroine with a sufficient degree of cruelty to elicit sympathy from both Undead and the Living."

Ha ha ha! I knew Ian was gonna hook you, Dromeo! Resistance is FUTILE.

Of course, for those who'd rather try before they buy, you can read the first three chapters plus additional excerpts of SHADES OF WICKED here . You can also listen to an audio clip from Chapter One HERE.

Whether you spend your Halloween reading, chomping candy or both, I hope that you have wonderful Halloween!

*Disclaimer: No, I'm not claiming that an actual vampire endorsed this book, but author & BFF Ilona Andrews is. *giggles* See more here. For the backstory on this supposed feud between me and an aggrieved vampire, go here and here. 

New SHADES OF WICKED excerpt, Quote of the Day weekly roundup, drinks inspired by Ian, and much more!

Before we get to the new except and the Quote of the Day roundup, I wanted to give a final remainder to readers who want to order a signed copy: you only have a short amount of time left to do so. Malarops Bookstore has partnered with my publisher to ship signed books to readers between now and shortly after release. If interested, please go to  this dedicated page on Malaprops website  and follow the instructions. Don’t miss the part where you have to specify in the comment section of your order that you want your copy SIGNED, and if you want it personalized, specify who you want it made out to. Thanks so much to Malaprops and Avon Books for setting this up!

I also wanted to thank all the readers who joined in on the Facebook Live chat last Friday night. If you missed the chat, but want to see it, the link is HERE. Funny alert: the video starts out sideways since I wanted to get the wider view to include my editor in it, but as you'll see, that didn't work out so well. Thanks also to everyone who came to last weekend's KissCon event in Atlanta! It was so much fun chatting with all of you.

Next up, some additional early feedback about SHADES OF WICKED. For those of you who want to read a review, but don't want to get inadvertently spoilered, here's a new one from FRESH FICTION that has no spoilers. My favorite line, of course, is "SHADES OF WICKED is everything Jeaniene Frost fans hoped for and much more." I know it's impossible for every reader to have that reaction, but one can dream! Lol. The full review is HERE.

Don't want something as formal as a review? Looking for a fun summary along with alcohol recommendations based on Ian and Veritas? Then the SMART BITCHES, TRASHY BOOKS blog has you covered. Go HERE to see which drinks were recommended based on SHADES OF WICKED, and read the fun write-up. My favorite line is "The first time we meet him in this book, he’s wearing nothing but a circus ringmaster’s coat and proudly displaying his own pierced ringmaster, if you catch my drift." *snickers* I think we do. 

Now, to the excerpt. The HAPPILY EVER AFTER blog is hosting a never-before-seen excerpt from SHADES OF WICKED. This one digs a little deeper into Ian's past and his ties to Mencheres, so go HERE to check it out. Thanks for HEA for hosting this!

And now, to the Quotes of the Day. To recap, over a week ago, I started posting a Quote of the Day on my Twitter and Facebook pages, and will continue to do so until SHADES OF WICKED’s release on Tuesday (October 30th.) Here's this week's roundup of quotes previously posted (note: if you want to see them when they come out, follow me here:

Click to be taken to Jeaniene’s Twitter page. Or, here is the direct link: https://twitter.com/Jeaniene_Frost

Click to be taken to Jeaniene’s Facebook page.  Or, here is the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/JeanieneFrost



 

Quote of the Day weekly roundup plus Facebook Live chat

First up, a last-minute live interview and Q&A with more tomorrow night (Friday, the 19th) via Facebook Live on my Facebook page at 8pm Eastern Standard Time! I'll be talking about SHADES OF WICKED, of course, plus anything else I'm asked, heh. Go HERE to watch and join in. Or, here is the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/JeanieneFrost



Next up, as of last Monday, I will be posting a Quote of the Day on my Twitter and Facebook pages from now until SHADES OF WICKED's release on October 30th. Every once in a while, I will post a bonus quote, too. If you want to see them when they come out, follow me here:

Click to be taken to Jeaniene's Twitter page. Or, here is the direct link: https://twitter.com/Jeaniene_Frost

Click to be taken to Jeaniene's Facebook page. Or, here is the direct link: https://www.facebook.com/JeanieneFrost

However, since not all of you have or want those accounts, every week, I'll also post a roundup of the quotes on my blog. This week, I'm posting them early since tomorrow, I'll be driving to go to the Avon KissCon event in Atlanta. But, normally, you can expect to find them on Fridays. Without further ado, here were this week's daily quotes. Enjoy! :)



 
And here's the bonus quote, which doesn't have the neat background image, but I hope you enjoy it anyway :)

"I never needed safety words before. The few times I lost control with people when I was young, I knew to stop when I heard screams followed by variations on 'arrg, my back, my back!" - Veritas, Law Guardian for the vampire council, to Ian.

Have a great weekend, everyone!